Centennial Plaza in Old Torrance showing wear way beyond its age

Torrance's Centennial Plaza was intended as the city's most enduring legacy of its milestone 2012 celebration, a $180,000 El Prado Park centerpiece that includes a time capsule set for opening 99 years from now.

But Councilman Bill Sutherland contends the 10-month-old landmark is already looking unacceptably shabby, raising doubts it will look presentable in a decade, let alone a century.

Already a popular Old Torrance feature, the plaza's cost was offset by the sale of hundreds of $150 bricks etched with personalized messages.

But the lettering on some is already partly obscured, sand separating bricks is fast eroding and birds are leaving their own unsightly legacy behind on the plaza.

"The maintenance at this point is not working," said Sutherland, who lives just a block away. "We always walk through so the (grandkids) can look at the bricks and I noticed they're starting to get worn -- or at least appear to be worn -- and it's (just over) nine months old. It shouldn't be like that."

The city has performed minimal maintenance on the plaza since it was installed, said Community Services Director John Jones.

Aside from mowing the grass, the two-person maintenance crew assigned to the park rarely so much as picks up a broom to brush away debris.

"We don't have the time to do that all the time," Jones acknowledged. "They can do very minimal maintenance."

It's unclear why the city built a facility it hasn't bothered to allocate adequate money or manpower to maintain.

"It's more of an oversight not to maintain it," said Sutherland, who is seeking the mayoral post in next year's municipal election. "Things like bird droppings -- that's something you don't think about. That's going to be an ongoing expense that was not calculated."

The city has plans to repair the damage, he said.

The company that etched the bricks plans to clean them -- the belief is the lettering is obscured by sand rather than worn off prematurely -- then apply a sealant to protect them.

Again, it's unclear why that wasn't done in the first place.

"I want to make sure they're readable in 10 to 15 years, hopefully 100, but I won't be here to check," Sutherland said. "This is a very good Centennial Plaza and, as a councilman, I want to make sure it stays a good Centennial Plaza."